Reno Windmills Barely Create a Stir in the Cash Drawer

The newspaper calculated the savings by using the city’s new “open government” website, which tracks the power each windmill generates.

From Reno website

The paper quotes Jason Geddes, Reno’s environmental services administrator, as saying, “The turbines that we have installed up in Stead at the wastewater plant have been two of (the) most successful turbines we’ve had and two of the most productive in the state in terms of what they produce.”

His definition of success and mine differ somewhat.

Though the windmills have not exactly paid off in terms of cash in the taxpayers’ coffers, the paper did point out they have helped the city win various accolades. Geddes said the city’s green-energy efforts have garnered recognition from The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine and USA Today. The National Resource Defense Council named the city one of the top 22 “Smarter” cities in the nation on renewable energy.

Their definition of smarter and mine differ somewhat.

Also today President Obama regaled a crowd in Maryland with green energy jokes.

According to AP and the WaPo, Obama called doubters of green energy spending naysayers and compared them to flat-earthers.

“A lot of the folks who are running for a certain office who shall go unnamed, they’ve been talking down new sources of energy,” Obama said. “They dismiss wind power. They dismiss solar power. They make jokes about biofuels. They were against raising fuel standards. I guess they like gas-guzzlers.”

He also said, “We’re drilling all over this country. I guess there’s some empty spots where we’re not drilling. We’re not at the national mall. We’re not drilling at your house.”

He also compared his critics to former President Rutherford B. Hayes, who said about the telephone: “It’s a great invention but who would ever want to use one?”

“That’s why he’s not on Mount Rushmore,” Obama cracked. “Because he was looking backwards, he was not looking forward.”

He also cracked wisely, “If some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail, they probably must have been founding members of the flat earth society. They would not believe that the world was round. … Maybe they would have agreed with one of the pioneers of the radio who apparently said, ‘Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.’”

Since Obama believes in funding emerging technologies, I have a box of 8-track tapes and some Betamax videos to sell him. I think my analogy works as well as his.